Gone for Too Long
by ZendoZebra
Summary: After travelling the world for 13 years, Dipper returns to Gravity Falls for his yearly visit. But when he finds that someone close to him has fallen terribly ill, he must fight between his desire to continue his desperate search, and staying right where he is needed the most.
1. Chapter 1

**Gone for Too Long**

 **Summary- After travelling the world for 13 years, Dipper returns to Gravity Falls for his yearly visit. But when he finds that someone close to him has fallen terribly ill, he must fight between his desire to continue his desperate search, and staying right where he is needed the most.**

The bus drove over a pothole, the sudden jolt resulting in the sleeping man hitting his head against the window. Dipper groaned, opening his eyes to look around the empty bus. Glancing out the window, the young man noticed a large blue sign that read:

GRAVITY FALLS- 5 MILES

Despite himself, he couldn't stop the small smile that graced his lips, old memories returning to him. But the smile didn't last long, as he soon remembered why he'd been gone for so long, rarely returning to the cozy little town. After a couple more minutes, the bus came to a stop and Dipper climbed off, pulling his long black trenchcoat tighter. For a quick moment, he regretted his decision to not call ahead, cursing the cold winter weather.

Resigned to his fate, Dipper slung his bag onto his back and began to trudge his way through the snow. Although it took far, far longer than he would have liked, he eventually found himself standing in front of the Mystery Shack. Dipper took a moment to stare at the rickety old attraction, walking up onto the front porch as happy memories flooded his mind. Some involving his sister, some involving one or even both of his great uncles.

Dipper placed his bag down on the front porch, rolling his shoulders in discomfort. Taking a deep breath of the cold winter air, the young man walked away from the Shack and into the forest. All too soon, he began to grunt with the effort of moving as the snow came up to hia knees. Once he reached his destination, he breathed a sigh of relief, all though he was soon filled with just as much dread. Dipper could feel his body shaking, but whether it was from nerves or the icy winds he couldn't tell.

The statue of Bill Cipher stood in front of the man, the snow reaching up to just below his single eye. His hand was outstretched and open, as if saying, "Let's make a deal". Dipper was quiet for a long time, becoming lost in thought as he stared at his old adversary. The young man didn't know how long he stood there, but the sun was beginning to dip below the mountainous horizon when he finally came back to his senses. Shaking his head, he realized that his face and hands now felt numb from being out in the cold long so long. With one last look at the statue, Dipper slowly made his way back to the Mystery Shack.

Knocking on the door, it took a couple of minutes for Melody to answer, her eyes going wide at the sight of her very unexpected guest. Of course she let him into the Shack, although she shared the knowledge that her children, Maria and Delaney, were asleep. Soft voices were a necessity.

"I'm sorry that Soos couldn't be here, Dipper." She said with a small frown, "I know he would have loved to see you again, but Stan had told him about an old warehouse out-of-state. Perfect for gathering supplies for a new attraction. Soos couldn't disappoint your Grunkle, you know him."

"It's fine." Dipper surprised himself with how rough his voice sounded. It had been months since he had needed to speak, and since he had been travelling alone, his voice had fallen into neglect. He coughed, trying to even out his voice before he continued. "I don't plan on staying in town for long, Melody. Just a quick few days to visit Mabel, Stan, and Ford, and then I'm gone."

Melody's frown deepened, "Are you sure you don't want to stay any longer than that? You know how much the girls love it when you visit, and it's been so long since the last time they saw you."

"I… I know. I know. But _HE's_ still out there, _somewhere_ , and I have to find him before it's too late. Before someone makes the same mistake that Great Uncle Ford made. The same mistake that _I_ made."

"I understand, Dipper." Melody sighed. Despite her words, Dipper could still tell that she was saddened. "But your sister and your uncles miss you. We all miss you. We all wish we could see you for more than a couple of days every year or so. Especially Mabel."

Dipper absentmindedly scratched at his arm, the scars from Bill's fascination with forks still prominent after all of these years. "I've been chasing after Bill for 13 years, Melody. I can't just stop now. If I do, all of that time, all of that work, it would have all been for nothing."

Melody sighed, "Can you at least take a vacation? Just for a week or two? Use that time to spend more than a day with Mabel?"

The young man was quiet, trying with all of his might to decline. But now that the idea of spending some extra time with his family was in his mind, he realized just how tempting it really was. "I'm not sure. Let me sleep on it." He said, to which the woman smiled softly.

After grabbing a pillow and a blanket for her guest, Melody retired for the night. Left to sleep on the couch, it took quite some time for Dipper to fall asleep. When he did, his slumber was restless and troubled.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Dipper grunted loudly, the air being forced from his lungs as he was rudely awakened. Little Delaney had jumped onto Dipper's sleeping body, and was soon joined by her older sister Maria. Both were laughing and talking, excited by their uncle's surprise visit. Once Melody was able to herd the girls into the kitchen for breakfast, Dipper was able to shower and change into a new set of clothes.

"Mama made you some pancakes, Uncle Dipper!" Delaney said when the man enteres the kitchen, a wide smile on the 8-year-old's face. Dipper took his plate from Melody with a nod of gratitude, sitting down in between the girls as he began to eat. The group of four shared idle small talk, the two girls telling Dipper everything that they've done in the year since his last visit.

"So Dipper," Melody started as she washed some dishes, "Have any plans for today?"

"Well, before I stop by Mabel's shop, I need to take a look at whatever supernatural object Pacifica's managed to find in her family's old storage vault. Ford will probably want to take a look too, meaning that Stan will be close by as he tries to make fun of us."

Melody looked confused, "I hadn't realized that she called you already?"

"She hasn't." He responded, putting on his trenchcoat, "But her family owns so many old artifacts that she's had something for me every single time I've come back to Gravity Falls. Why wait for a phonecall when I can just get a headstart?"

Stepping through the doorway, Dipper began walking towards town, grateful that a snowplow haf cleared the roads. The silence that surrounded him felt out of place after the noisy breakfast at the Shack, so the man put on some headphones, looking to resume a podcast. Surprisingly, the podcast had nothing to do with the weird or the paranormal, but was more focused on books and movies. Nowadays, Dipper found himself too busy to indulge in these simple pleasures, so he found this to be a pleasant solution to this problem.

As he made his way towards the Pines' Cottage, the townsfolk all waved their hellos as he passed. None of them seemed to realize that this tall, lithe stranger was the same boy who saved their town from Bill Cipher 13 years ago. To them, he was just another wanderer, a drifter, travelling aimlessly from town to town without any clear goal in mind.

Before long, Dipper found himself at his destination, silently staring at the wooden door before him. The thought of turning around and leaving crossed his mind, but he ignored it. Slowly, he raised his hand, as if struggling to perform this simple action. His arms felt like lead, heavy, fighting against his desire to reunite with his family.

He knocked on the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Gone for Too Long**

"What's an axolotl?"

Dipper choked on his drink, coughing violently as Pacifica stared at him in shock. The man pounded his chest, trying with all his might to clear his lungs. All she had done was ask the man a simple question; What had she said to garner such a reaction from him?

"W-Where di-ack!" Dipper sputtered, trying to stop himself from coughing. His shock at the unexpected question was quickly pushed out of his mind, replaced instead with complete horror and fear. "Where did you hear that name?!" He exclaimed, slamming his hands down in the coffee table.

"It's on your arm, you crazy dork!" Pacifica yelled her response, pointing at the tattoo on Dipper's left forearm, "Usually, you're wearing your coat or a longer shirt. I haven't actually seen your arms in years, so this is the first time I've noticed it."

Dipper looked down at the tattoo in question. He had gotten it about 10 years ago, when he had been 16 years old. It was just a simple peace, nothing complicated. Just black ink spelling out "AXOLOTL" against his pale skin. Unfortunately, the tattoo had become faded and a little misshapen. Since Dipper hadn't finished growing until he was 20, the skin had stretched, making the letters a bit thinner and a tad taller than they originally had .

"Oh. That…" Dipper said, slightly embarrassed at his own overreaction. Trying to play it off, he asked her, "So, what's the over-under of you believing me if I just told you that it's nothing important?"

"Zero." The blonde answered in a blunt monotone, making the man sigh in defeat, but Pacifica continued with, "But you can tell me all about over dinner tomorrow night. Stan and Ford should be coming back from their walk in just a few minutes."

True to her word, the two old men walked into their shared cottage not long afterwards. They both stared at Dipper in shock, having been unaware that he was visiting, but they both took it in stride as they greeted their great nephew. Pacifica took over the job of pushing Ford's wheelchair, leaving Stan to fall onto the couch besides Dipper.

"How've ya been, kid?" Stan greeted him with a smile, slapping his hand on Dipper's shoulder, "It's been a while since your last visit. I'd have thought you'd call ahead like usual."

"I've been better, Grunkle Stan. I've been having trouble sleeping lately. Maybe I just need to sleep on an actual bed for once, instead of a couch or on the ground."

"You need to start taking better care of yourself, Dipper." Ford told his nephew as Pacifica pushed his wheelchair closer, "Finding Bill will mean nothing if you can't physically fight back against him. Lord knows Stanley and I are in no condition to be of much help."

"Hey!" Stan looked at his brother, offended, "Unlike you, Poindexter, I've still got plenty of fight left in me!"

"Alright, alright, I'll try to get some more sleep." Dipper laughed at the old men's antics, deciding to change the subject. "So how's Mabel been? I'd have thought she would have been here the second I walked through the door."

Suddenly, Stan, Ford, and Pacifica all flinched, looking at each other uncomfortably. Dipper looked around, beginning to grow nervous. "What? What's going on?" A smothering sense of dread filled the room, drowning Dipper as his blood began to run cold. "Stan," The young man spoke very sternly, causing his uncle shrink beneath his fierce gaze, "Where's Mabel?"

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Mabel's skin was even paler than Dipper's own, making the young woman seem like a ghost in the eyes of her brother. He picked up the clipboard that hung at the edge of her bed, taking a glance at her medical records. And there on the paper were the exact same words that Stan had said to him only an hour before:

Stage III Breast Cancer.

Dipper sighed heavily, sitting down in the chair next to Mabel's bed. The man gently took hold of his sister's hand, afraid she might break apart, as if she was made if glass. He gazed at her sleeping face, studying a face so similar to his own. Her hair was far, far shorter than it once was, looking more like Dipper's hairstyle from that fateful summer 13 years ago. He absentmindedly placed a hand on top of his own buzz cut, cursing to himself. If he had only kept his hair long, he could have saved the hair to make a wig for her.

'Hell, she'd probably want to make the wig herself." Dipper chuckled softly at this thought, looking up as Pacifica entered the room. She smiled sadly, sitting down in the chair next to Dipper.

After a long moment, Pacifica finally spoke up. "She didn't want you to know." The blonde whispered softly, her voice barely audible, even in the silent room, "She knew how important this search of yours was to you, and she didn't want you to be worried."

"How didn't I notice?" Pacifica could tell that this was destroying Dipper, tearing him apart from the inside. His voice was strained ever so slightly, one of the only signs that he gives for sorrow. She probably only noticed this because she knew what to look for. Dipper continued, "She'd always seemed to be perfectly fine whenever I visit. Why didn't I notice?"

"We both know that Mabel can be quite the actress when she really wants to be. Whenever you called ahead to schedule your next visit, she would break out her make-up kit and get to work on perfecting her wig. To anyone that didn't know, she was completely healthy."

"It doesn't matter how good of an actress she was, I should have known. I should have been here for her! I… RAARGH!" Dipper clutched his head in frustration before his hands fell to his sides in defeat. He sighed sadly, "Maybe Melody was right. Maybe I do need a vacation."

"Well, you know that Mabel would love to see you more often. Especially now. In fact, we would all love to see you more often."

"But what about Bill? What's to stop him from returning to power if nobody knows where he is?" Dipper's voice portrayed his hesitation. He had given up half of his life on searching for Bill, and Pacifica was able to understand how important this search was to the man.

"You don't have to give up, Dipper." Pacifica reassured the man, softly grabbing his hand, "Every once in awhile, Grunkle Stan will start a drinking contest with Great Uncle Ford, and the Author will start spilling more than just whiskey. Once when he was drunk, he said…" The blonde went silent, looking away from Dipper, suddenly unable to look the man in the eyes.

"What did he say, Pacifica?" Dipper pushed, trying to figure out what Ford could have said.

"He said that your search was useless. That you're wasting your time. He said that monsters like Bill have a long memory, and if he ever does come back, he's going to return to Gravity Falls and get his revenge on us. There's no reason to waste your time looking for something when you already know where it'll be. As long as we prepare for him properly, he shouldn't stand a chance against us. All we can really do is wait for him."

They grew quiet as Dipper thought about what she'd just said, and slowly grew angrier and angrier as he realized how god damn _obvious_ it was. He'd wasted the last 13 years of his life, and it took his sister getting cancer for him to finally wake up! Dipper was seething, his fists clenched tight as he all but growled. That is, until a voice brought him out of his anger.

"Dipper, you're hurting me! Let me go!" Dipper quickly let go of Pacifica's hand, whispering a string of apologies to the woman. She simply waved them of, saying, "You were there for me all those years ago. This is the least I could do to repay you."

After a moment, Dipper said, "Alright. I'll stay in Gravity Falls for now. But I'll have to leave eventually. If not to find Bill, then to find better ways of stopping him. I'll stay until Mabel's health begins to improve, but then I'll have to keep moving. Sounds fair?"

"No." Pacifica answered, then gave him a soft smile, "But it's much more than you would normally want to give up for us. Thank you, Dipper."

They sat in a comfortable silence for about 20 minutes, just keeping Mabel company. Eventually, Dipper said, "Has anyone ever told you my real name?"

Pacifica's head whipped around, eyes wide at the prospect of learning such a well kept secret. Despite everything that they've been through, the twins have never told her his first name. "No. I don't know what it is."

"Good." Dipper stood up, smirking at his blonde companion, "Let's keep it that way." With that, he walked out of the room, leaving a dumbfounded Pacifica in his wake.

Eventually, she was able to brush aside her shock to say one word. "Asshole."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

"You need any help unpacking?" Pacifica asked Dipper, walking into the spare bedroom with him. Both of the Stans had already gone to bed, having had a longer day than usual. They'd been helping Melody run the Mystery Shack in Soos' absence, and despite what they may say, they're not as young as they use to be.

Dipper chuckled nervously, "I don't really have too much to unpack." The man held up his one duffel bag, "I really don't own all too much. I've never really needed to. Just needed the bare necessities and nothing else."

"Wait a minute." The blonde held up her hand, giving Dipper a look, "Are you telling me that you carry all of your clothes in that one bag?" Pacifica looked shocked at the idea of living such a life. Despite having become a far better person than she once was, she still has her standards. Her shock soon turned to horror when Dipper nodded his head. "Okay, first thing tomorrow we'll go shopping. There's no telling how long Mabel's recovery could take, so you're going to need more than just three outfits. Plus some sweaters to get you through the winter. And some thermal sets for when it's extra cold."

"Anything else, Princess?" Dipper sat down on the edge of his bed, feeling his muscles grow heavy. He hadn't realized how emotionally draining this day had been, and now all he could think about was getting some rest.

Pacifica narrowed her eyes at him, taking a very close look at the man in front of her. Although Dipper could have sworn she was looking at him more like a piece of meat than an actual person. He even thought she might have licked her lips, but the thought was interrupted when she finally said, "And a few hats to keep that shaved head of your's warm."

"Will you get out of my room!"

"Alright, dork." She laughed, leaving his room. Finally alone, Dipper sighed heavily. He stood up and stripped down to his underclothes, a simple white T-shirt and a pair of black boxers. The man fell back onto his bed, taking a look at the tattoos that decorated both of his arms. Some were extremely simple, like the AXOLOTL on his left forearm, but others were much more complex. One of these was the Cipher Zodiac on his right bicep.

Dipper traced the shape of the Zodiac, thinking back to his search for Bill. Stage III breast cancer was nothing to scoff at, meaning Mabel would need quite some time to recover. Dipper's stay in Gravity Falls would take longer than a year. For a second, the man debated leaving after just a week, but only a second was able to pass before he banished the idea from his mind. He was Mabel's twin brother. It was his job to be there for her whenever she needs him. As Dipper lied in his bed, tuning out Stan's snores from the next room over, he decided that Mabel has never needed him more than she does now.


End file.
